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Myths About Public Speaking Reading Test for IELTS

Our fears of public speaking result not only from what we do not know or understand about public communication, but also from misconceptions and myths about public encounters. These misconceptions and myths persist among professional people as well as the general public. Let us examine these persistent myths about public communication, which, like our ignorance and misunderstandings of the fundamental assumptions and requirements of public speaking, exacerbate our fears and prevent our development as competent public persons.

A Perhaps the most dogged and persistent myth about public communication is that it is a "special" activity reserved for unusual occasions. After all, how often do you make a public speech? There are only a few special occasions during the year when even an outgoing professional person will step behind a podium to give a public speech, and many professional people can count on one hand the number of public speeches given in a careen Surely, then, public communication is a rare activity reserved for especially important occasions.
This argument, of course, ignores the true nature of public communication and the nature of the occasions in which it occurs. When we engage with people we do not know well to solve problems, share understanding and perspectives, advocate points of view, or seek stimulation, we are engaged in public speaking. Public communication is a familiar, daily activity that occurs in the streets, in restaurants, in boardrooms, courtrooms, parks, offices, factories and meetings.
Is public speaking an unusual activity reserved for special occasions and restricted to the lectern or the platform? Hardly. Rather it is, and should be developed as, an everyday activity occurring in any location where people come together

B A related misconception about public communication is the belief that the public speaker is a specially gifted individual with innate abilities and God-given propensities. While most professional people would reject the idea that public speakers are born, not made, they nevertheless often feel that the effective public communicator has developed unusual personal talents to a remarkable degree. At the heart of this misconception like the myth of public speaking as a "special" activity—is an overly narrow view of what a public person is and does.
Development as an effective public communicator begins with the understanding that you need not be a nationally-known, speak-for-pay, professional platform speaker to be a competent public person. The public speaker is an ordinary person who confronts the necessity of being a public person and uses common abilities to meet the fundamental assumptions and requirements of daily public encounters.

C A less widespread but serious misconception of public speaking is reflected in the belief that public speeches are "made for the ages". A public speech is something viewed as an historical event which will be part of a continuing and generally available public record. Some public speeches are faithfully recorded, transcribed, reproduced, and made part of broadly available historical records. Those instances are rare compared to the thousands of unrecorded public speeches made every day.
Public communication is usually situation-specific and ephemeral. Most audiences do well if they remember as much as 40 per cent of what a speaker says immediately after the speaker concludes; even less is retained as time goes by. This fact is both reassuring and challenging to the public communicator. On the one hand, it suggests that there is room for human error in making public pronouncements; on the other hand, it challenges the public speaker to be as informed as possible and to strive to defeat the poor listening habits of most public audiences.

D Finally, professional people perhaps more than other groups often subscribe to the misconception that public communication must be an exact science, that if it is done properly it will succeed. The troublesome corollary to this reasoning is that if public communication fails, it is because it was improperly prepared or executed. This argument blithely ignores the vagaries of human interaction. Public speakers achieve their goals through their listeners, and the only truly predictable aspect of human listeners is their unpredictability. Further, public messages may succeed despite inadequate preparation and dreadful delivery.
Professional people often mismanage their fears of public communication. Once we understand what public encounters assume and demand, once we unburden ourselves of the myths that handicap our growth as public persons, we can properly begin to develop as competent public communicators.

Questions 1-5
THE reading passage "Myths About Public Speaking" has four sections A-D. In boxes 1-5 on your answer sheet write the appropriate letter A, B, C, or D to show in which section you can find a discussion of the following points. You may use any letter more than once.
1 A person's ability to be a public speaker.
2 Whether public speeches are remembered for a long time.
3 A definition of public speaking.
4 The relationship of preparation to success in public speaking.
5 Retention rates as a challenge to public speakers.

Questions 6-11
DO boxes 6-11 on your answer sheet write
YES if the statement agrees with the writer
NO if the statement does not agree with the writer
NOT GIVEN if there is no information about this in the passage

6. Very few people can become good public speakers.
7. Public communication is an ordinary daily activity.
8. Public speaking can be learned at specially designated schools
9. Most good public speakers lead happy and productive lives.
10. It is impossible to predict how a speech will be received.
11. There is little place for public speaking in the life of the ordinary person.

Questions 12-14
USE information from the reading passage to following sentences. Use no more than three words or a number. write yore answers in boxes 12-14 on your
12. The writer defines public speaking as any activity where people jointly explore problems, knowledge, attitudes and opinions, or look for_______________
13. At the end of most public speeches, most audiences immediately forget about __________ of what they have just heard.
14. Because most public speeches are short-lived, the speaker should work to counteract the ___________________of the listeners.